Residents escape safely from Concord apartment fire

Investigators said ashes from a wood stove might be to blame for a fire that heavily damaged an apartment building in Concord early Friday morning.

Flames were spreading from the porch of the building at 72 School St. when firefighters arrived about 12:30 a.m. Two people were inside the building at the time and made it out safely.

Resident Tony Sayess said he was sleeping when he woke up to the sound of an explosion.

"I was asleep, and I was actually dreaming, and I heard in my dreams like a meteor had crashed and exploded," he said.

Sayess said he looked out the back window and could see a lot of activity.

"And I thought, 'That's weird,' so I ran down to the back exit, and I could see smoke," he said. "And so I just literally grabbed this jacket and ran out onto School Street."

The owner, who lives in a different section of the house, was already outside. Firefighters said that when they arrived, the fire already had a good start, and a second alarm was sounded.

"They had fire engulfing the porch area of this building," said Chief Dan Andrus. "It was engulfing the rest of the first floor, right into the second floor and attic. It was a very untenable situation here for a few minutes."

Firefighters worked to keep the flames from spreading to other homes.

"This is an old neighborhood," Andrus said. "This home itself dates from the 1860s, and the possibility of the fire communicating to other homes was very, very real."

Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading and kept the home from being a total loss. One firefighter suffered an ankle injury and was treated and released at a local hospital.